Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Information on the back of this Rimrock City, Texas postcard:The huge frontiersman towers three stories in the air at the entrance of the parking area of Rimrock City. He is pointing the way to a memorable return to the Old West, where there is fun for the whole family. Highway 80, between Odessa and Midland, Texas.

Rimrock City also issued some other postcards of their attractions including the Red Garter Saloon, Gambling Casino , Main Street, and Pleasant Hill Cemetery.

There has been some recent (August 2007) reminiscing on the lubbockonline forums, topic URL. Other features mentioned include a miniature golf course, an archery range, a small zoo, and a narrow gage railroad. An accident with a "shootout" may have led to Rimrock City's demise. There may still be some old western style buildings at the site.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Olney, Illinois is one of the towns claiming to be the home of white squirrels. The City of Olney website has some history of their white squirrels. There are two hypotheses about how white squirrels came to Olney in 1902. Olney held a 100-Year White Squirrel Celebration on October 12, 2002. About 1941, there were 800 white squirrels in Olney. Olney has a squirrel count each fall, and recently the number of white squirrels apparently has been down to the 100-120 range.Roadsideamerica.com (your online guide to offbeat tourist attractions) has a page on the White Squirrel Wars. Five towns use albino squirrels as their claims to fame: Olney, IL; Marionville, MO; Kenton, TN; Brevard, NC; Exeter, ON. Olney is considered the loudest booster of the white squirrel towns, titling itself Home of the White Squirrels.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

This postcard folds in half for mailing. On one side is a route map and information about a 1953 flight of the Clipper Rainbow en route from San Francisco to Honolulu. The other side has space for a mailing address and a message written aloft.

Pan American World Airways operated from 1927 until 1991. It began with a single route from Key West to Havana and was a pioneer in transocean and intercontinental flying.

Thursday, August 2, 2007

From the back of this postcard of Nixon's Family Restaurant and Bakery in Whittier, California, we learn that children were "most welcome," that the restaurant featured finer foods at sensible prices and quality cakes and pastries prepared by Nixon's own bakers.

Nixon's Family restaurant was owned by President Nixon's brother, Donald. In January 1957, Howard Hughes lent Donald Nixon $205,000 to bail out the restaurant. The restaurant went bankrupt less than a year later, and the loan was never repaid. Questions about whether this was a political favor dogged Richard Nixon during his political campaigns.

This postcard has a nice view of an Ohio Turnpike Plaza in addition to a great close up of the signs. If you look closely, you can see a small trailer at the gas pumps on the left and a lineup of pastel-colored 1950s cars parked in front of the building.Ground was broken for the 241 mile Ohio Turnpike on October 27, 1952. At peak construction, 10,000 workers were on the job. The construction project was completed on October 1, 1955.The Ohio Turnpike is now part of the nation's Interstate Highway System, running east and west across Ohio between the Pennsylvania Turnpike in the east and the Indiana Toll Road in the west. It remains a toll road. The Ohio Turnpike is a primary corridor between Chicago and Pittsburgh.

The Turnpike originally had 17 interchanges, located near the most populous areas of Northern Ohio. By 2004, there were 31 access points. There are pairs of service plazas (one on each side of the turnpike) located near mile-markers 49, 76, 100, 139, 170, 197, and 237. The over 40-year-old service plazas are being reconstructed with modernized facilities on the sites of the originals.